“Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand – strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming ‘Woo hoo – what a ride!’”

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Hubble's newest camera takes a deep look at two merging galaxies Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), the newest camera on NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, has captured a spectacular pair of galaxies engaged in a celestial dance of cat and mouse or, in this case, mouse and mouse. Located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, the colliding galaxies have been nicknamed "The Mice" because of the long tails of stars and gas emanating from each galaxy. Otherwise known as NGC 4676, the pair will eventually merge into a single giant galaxy. Credit: NASA, Holland Ford (JHU), the ACS Science Team and ESA

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.Boldness has genius, power and magic in itUntil one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - William Hutchinson Murray

These famous lines are a wonderful call to action.

Interestingly though, there isn't a record of Goethe having ever written or spoken these lines.

In fact this “Until one is committed...” quote was written by William Hutchinson Murray in his 1951 book The Scottish Himalayan Expedition.

The book ends with Murray attributing his inspiration to the Goethe quote

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!” but it seems he is paraphrasing his recollection of the quote as no identical quote exists in either English or German.

Monday, October 14, 2013

IT INVOLVES THE SHAMPOO WHEN IT RUNS DOWN YOUR BODY WHEN YOU SHOWER WITH IT. WARNING TO US ALL!!!

Shampoo Warning! I don't know WHY I didn't figure this out sooner! I use shampoo in the shower! When I wash my hair, the shampoo runs down my whole body, and printed very clearly on the shampoo label is this warning, "FOR EXTRA BODY AND VOLUME."

No wonder I have been gaining weight! Well! I got rid of that shampoo and I am going to start showering with Dawn Dishwashing Soap. It's label reads, "DISSOLVES FAT THAT IS OTHERWISE DIFFICULT TO REMOVE."

It’s one of the fundamental truths about successful relationships: we need to be active listeners. But what exactly is active listening? Whether it’s with our partner, colleagues, friends or family, we need to really hear what they’re saying. That’s active listening.

Too often, while the other person is talking, we’re composing a response in our head. We’re kinda listening, but we’re not truly hearing what they’re saying because we’re too busy working on our reply.

When we practice active listening, we stay tuned in to what the other person is saying. We wait to create our comeback until after they’re done talking. This may mean a pause or moment of silence between comments, and that’s okay. That’s the time to think about how we want to respond, not before.

Let’s be honest, we all want to be heard. So let’s give active listening so we get active listening.

After seeing all the American flags this weekend I feel it was time to see this again - Michelle O's true feeling about the American flag. >> Michelle Obama's "All this for a damn flag" - Again the Obama's words and actions speak volumes for them!

Looks like the account transfer is finally done! Now, to go through everything. I have 3 times the circles on this account than what I had 2 days ago! So, please excuse the mess while I get things cleaned up...

Monday, October 7, 2013

I have a business page and a couple of topic oriented pages. If I am logged into my (main) profile, see an article/posting that I would like to reshare via one of my pages instead of on my personal stream, how do I do that? I've googled for it, see that several authors say it is possible but have not discovered the trick for doing so. Any tips? Any tricks?

Why is it always the left vs the right? What is it about the left's mindset that says "I am open to different ideas", hears a different idea and then says that idea is wrong; no debate, just flat out wrong? And why is it the laws that come in from the left seem to want to make everyone the same? That is NOT what this country is about, or at least it wasn't...

Meanwhile, the president continued his gambit to make the shutdown as annoying and inconvenient as possible, erecting Barackades at every national park and closing down every government website -- all of which takes more effort and expense than simply letting things be. Here's but a short list of closings due to this ridiculous political stunt: The Iwo Jim Memorial is closed, veterans were removed from the Vietnam War Memorial, highway pull-offs with a view of Mount Rushmore are blocked, some of the Florida ocean is off-limits, the Grand Canyon is closed despite Arizona's offer to keep it open with state funds and 60 families with vacation homes at Lake Mead were ordered to leave.

One angry Park Ranger confirmed that it's all politics: "We've been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It's disgusting." It's also standard operating procedure for Barack Obama.

The House just passed a law guaranteeing federal workers to be compensated back pay for their furloughed time, after the shut-down ends. Are…you… kidding us? So the furloughs and shut-down will save zero money. The only effect is to deny the public the services those federal civil services were rendering and that now will be paid for, anyway. Services like...

... the SEC monitoring the scuzzy finance industry transactions that crashed the economy. Or answering queries when a gun store does a responsible background check on a buyer. Or running clinics for poor/expectant mothers. Or running Pentagon audits to make sure we get our money's worth from defense contractors, or science at NHS and NASA, and NIMH, and DARPA and NSF. Or running the FBI's white collar crimes division….

…oh, wait a minute. All right, then. What the GOP is doing all makes sense after all. It is wholly consistent and not hypocritical after all. Never mind.

Some good things come from a government shutdown - for example, less light pollution out at Rodeo Beach the other night. And there was nobody else there, so no flashlights etc ... just my assistant Jax and I ... and a few stars :)

The bright side of seeing the already tired "it's the law, shut up and swallow it" rubbish repeated by mindless person after person is that at least I know they're all simply faithfully regurgitating the mindless prattle they've heard, read or seem 'someplace' instead of all coming to the same ridiculous conclusions independently. Seems like a silly thing to take comfort in but these days, I take comfort where I can get it.

I found this article today and it is a must read. If you were even on the fence about liking Obamacare, you need to read the comment ranked number 1 on this article and you will see just how damning this law is.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

You're 66. Do you have to consider going public someday for tax reasons?Not in Britain, because shares in private companies are not subject to inheritance tax. They're like farms. The government wants to keep family businesses intact as family businesses down the generations. - James Dyson

People act like Congress is broken as if it is "they" and not "us." Congress is broken only because our society is broken. They are our representatives. They mainly act the way they do because they think they are representing the majority of their constituents. After all, they want to keep their jobs..

Our society is hugely diverse, but we refuse to act like it. Instead, we all function under the basic assumption that everyone else should be like us, and if they're not, we'll try to make them with the force of law.

We need to move from an us vs. them mentality to a family mentality. We're all stuck with each other. We don't have to like each other, but we do have to live with each other.

Solution: Stop voting for polarizing/-ed people. Stop being so polarized yourself. Listen to people more; argue less. Accept the fact that we won't always see things the same way or approve of what others think and do. Find ways to live together and minimize interference.

"[D]emocracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few."

Let's be clear about what is going on here in the United States - The facts are that Mr. Obama has never been in private sector business nor industry and does not have an appreciation for, or have the slightest clue about just how extremely important the art of negotiations are - Negotiating is not a sign of weakness! - Recently as one young boy in a 5th grade class doing a report about 'inventors and their mind-set' said "The best sign of intelligence is when someone asks questions!"

....If up-grading manpower to barricade and close off public monuments in Washington that are accessible "outdoors" - that are "walk-able" - and open 24/7/365 does not speak volumes of just what a little man of weak intelligence he truly is - and if you cannot see just how disingenuous and how far this man goes to be spiteful and generally goes out of his way and does every little thing possible he can (e.g. compulsively late) to disrespect and just generally erk people off - to lift his ego up, I truly feel for your gullibility and naïveté.

Again, good ideas are NOT accomplishments - implementing them into working functioning models are! ....Simply put, the man is extremely "cunning" not "intellectual" - If he was he wouldn't have hidden all his past education, or lack there of!

Obama is pure 'Power Drunk' - that mixed with his pathological traits and his extremely inflated ego are an very very dangerous mix! It will take this country decades to recovery from his damage.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

What kind of despicable human being would deny these world war 2 vets what will possibly be their only chance to see the memorial built for them with private funds, a memorial which is open to the public anyway 24/7 without personnel by enlisting paid government employees to close the park to them? It would require no funds to allow them to see it, yet it will require funds to keep them out? You've stepped in it this time Barack, using these heroes for political theater is just about as low as you can stoop. Shame on you!

"As for the non-essential services, the Washington Examiner's Mark Tapscott asks, "If these career civil service employees aren't doing essential work in government, why are the American people spending more than $100 billion annually to pay them? That's precisely the kind of question that a government with a $17 trillion national debt literally cannot afford not to ask."